Darts star Kim Huybrechts suffers serious injury after being 'brutally attacked' following Belgian Cup final

Darts star Kim Huybrechts has suffered a serious injury after he was attacked following the Belgian Cup final.

Huybrechts has endured a difficult season, dropping out of the top 32 players in the world for the first time in years and getting involved in spats with several players.

Yet on Thursday things got even worse for the 38-year-old, the last thing he would have expected when attending a football match.

Huybrechts is a diehard supporter of Royal Antwerp, so he attended their clash with Union Saint-Gilloise in the Belgian Cup final in Brussels.

Unfortunately for the Belgian number two, Antwerp suffered a 1-0 defeat to the side 13 points ahead of them in the championship round of the Belgian Pro League.

After the match Huybrechts and his friend Kevin Belmans were attacked by a group of youths as they walked from the King Baudouin Stadium to the Antwerp fan buses with other fans of their team.

In a Facebook post, Huybrechts' wife claimed that the Antwerp fans were being taunted by the youths.

According to Belgian news outlet Nieuwsblad, Belmans was struck first by a motorcycle helmet before Huybrechts was tackled to the ground as he tried to run away.

The darts player fell and took several kicks and punches, and suffered a double fracture of the collarbone above his right arm. He and his friend managed to escape to the supporter busses, where they received medical treatment.

According to the report, Huybrechts has been hospitalised and will undergo surgery on Friday.

Huybrechts throws with his right arm, meaning he will now be out of action indefinitely.

Huybrechts was due to compete alongside Belgian compatriot Dimitri Van den Bergh at the 2024 PDC World Cup of Darts next month, but his participation is not seriously in doubt.

There is concern that his situation could be similar to Erik Clarys, who broke his throwing arm in five places after a fall and was forced to quit the sport.

"We hope that things will not go so smoothly for Kim, because you wouldn't wish that on anyone," Clarys said on Thursday.